“Wow.” He put his hand behind his head and rubbed the back of his hair until it stuck out in all directions. “I have to say I’m a little flattered.”
“Flattered is better than disgusted, I guess.” I twirled my finger around in the flour on the counter.
Oliver lifted the edge of my chin, his face suddenly very serious. “Eloise. I feel like I should make my own admission.”
I waited for him to continue. That hint of blush returned to his cheeks as he smiled. “I don’t normally offer tutoring services to random people I meet in the library.”
“I looked like I needed the help that much, huh?”
He grinned then walked around the counter to me. His hand touched my hair, his fingers running through it down to the twisty ends at my shoulder. “I’ve always been impressed with your dresses.”
I looked down at the rose print on my dress. “Really?”
“If you were an icing flavor, you wouldn’t be vanilla. You’d be the spice added to make everything else pop. You stand out in a crowd, that’s for sure. Always so bright and colorful, yet somehow prim and proper. I was aware of you too, Eloise.”
I laughed, trying not to let myself giggle excessively like a love-struck fool.
He leaned in a little closer. “Your hair always matches the style of your dress, and your lips are always red and shiny.”
His gaze dropped to them. I knew because when I self-consciously licked them, he smiled. The timer on the counter dinged, and we both jumped. I grabbed it, and when I looked back, he’d stepped away a couple feet. I held up the timer. I wondered if he could see my disappointment. “It’s time to decorate my cupcakes.”
He perked up at the sound of that. “You mean I get to watch the master in action?”
“Sure, if you want to spend your night in a bakery with an oddly dressed, nerd-liking weirdo.”
He touched my hip. His thumb ran over the blue bird there. “I do, actually.”
I nodded toward the door. “Grab an apron. I could use an assistant.”
Oliver put on an apron and washed up in the sink. I got a sleeve of cupcakes out of the freezer and grabbed a bag of my famous strawberry cheesecake icing. “Come here, let me show you how it’s done.” I placed a cupcake between us and iced the top perfectly in less than three seconds.
His eyes danced. “Wow. You’ve got skills.”
I handed him the bag of icing. “Your turn.”
He leaned back. “You don’t want to sell something I decorate. Trust me.”
I put the bag in his hands. “There are three extra…you know, for emergencies, in case I accidently drop one on the floor.”
He held the bag of icing and stared at it. “Or if you lose your mind and let me decorate it.”
“And that.” I nudged his elbow. “Go ahead, give it a shot.”
The sight of Oliver decorating a cupcake was indescribable. My two worlds clashing together. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? He bit his lip, concentrating as he circled the top of the cupcake with the icing. It wasn’t half bad. I wouldn’t put it in my showcase, but I’d eat it. I walked up beside him and nodded. “Color me impressed. That’s not bad for your first try.”
He grinned down at his creation. “Thanks.”
I pulled the pan of cupcakes over to me and easily started adding frosting to the top of each one in half the time it had taken him to do one corner. He watched me closely as I went one by one down the pan. After I finished, I motioned for him. “Could you add the sprinkles on top while I grab another tray out of the freezer?”
“Sure, that sounds like a task I can handle.”
Oliver helped me finish up my orders. He applied toppings to all the cupcakes and assembled boxes. Honestly, I could have spent the entire night there working with him. He understood the need for the room to be quiet while I worked, but always managed to break the silence afterward with relative ease. Turned out I could add another adjective to the long list of things I loved about him.
Funny.
Oliver was witty and clever in a way I didn’t realize guys could be. “So, where do you buy these dresses?” He bent down low to watch closely as he dropped the colorful sprinkles on top of the cupcakes I’d finished.
My cheeks lit on fire. So, he had really noticed my whimsical attire. “Different places. I find some online, and others at shops around town.”
He stood back up straight and grinned at me. “What about those tights? There has to be a special kind of store where you get those.”
I pointed my bag of icing at him. “Are you teasing me?”
His grin was quick. “Yes. Is that a problem?”
I pressed my lips into a hard line to keep from smiling. “It will be if you keep it up. I promised my boss I’d keep this kitchen sanitary.”
His lips quirked up at the edge as he ran his hand down the long side of the counter. “Well, that’s a disappointment, now, isn’t it?”
We both laughed, and I thought about bringing up the kiss in the library, but I didn’t. This was too perfect. I took my time decorating the last of the batch, because I didn’t want it to end.
When we finally finished, Oliver helped me close up the shop. He locked the door and pulled it shut. I looked down at my watch, rubbing the icing off the glass so I could see the time. It was past ten, which meant I would be up well past midnight trying to study for my quiz tomorrow night.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked up to see Oliver watching me, his smile kind and worried. It made reality so much worse. That was what this was now…back to reality. Inside the library and the bake shop, I lived in a daydream. In there, I could pretend life and everything in it was perfect, that I had control over my own future. Out here, though, under the harsh light of the streetlamps, I couldn’t deny the truth.
If I didn’t pass my anatomy class with an acceptable grade, I would have to leave Maryland or lose the only parent I had left. Even if I passed, I couldn’t tell my father about Oliver. He would find a way to keep me away from him. This buzz deep in my gut at the mere close proximity to Oliver would be nothing more than a memory I used to torture myself. “I would love to invite you over, but—”
“You need to study,” Oliver guessed.
“I have a quiz tomorrow night.”
Oliver walked me to my car. “I have some free time tomorrow, if you want to meet up and study again. I promise to try to rein in my cupcake lust long enough to keep our session on track this time.”
I looked up at him, his perfect face all I could see. “Okay.” I was going to fail. I was going to fail so bad. “Sure. Want to meet at ten?”
“Sounds good.” He took his hands out of his pockets like he might do something with them, but then thought better of it and put them back. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oliver.” I grabbed his arm.
His gaze came up to meet mine. I reached up and straightened his bow tie. “Thank you.”
His brows scrunched together. “For what?”
I smiled and opened my car door. “For not running away screaming. I know I can be a little much to take in at first.”
Oliver grabbed the door, blocking me in. “Eloise Duncan. I’m going to tell you this once, and only once.” He leaned forward, placing his lips directly next to my ear, imitating the same tone I’d used on him earlier. His hand touched my waist, his thumb grazing over the polyester fabric of my dress like it was made of silk. “You’re perfect. Strawberry cheesecake icing kind of perfect. Get used to it.”
I sighed, and his forehead fell into mine.
My life was one huge, complicated mess.
Chapter Fourteen
POETRY
I stayed up to two a.m. studying, even though it felt more like memorizing my own death sentence. I would never need to use the information again, so I only needed to store it in my short-term memory long enough to pass the quiz, and then it could float away into some far corner of my mind never to be thought about again. I had much more important things
to fill my permanent memory with now. All of them involved a certain tutor of mine.
My mind threatened to drift away into dreamland all morning, but I wanted to make sure I studied enough in case my study session with Oliver went astray somehow, then I would still manage to pass my quiz.
I had high plans on making the session go astray. There was something about the thought of getting Oliver back in the library, back in the same place where I’d kissed him yesterday, that made me want to repeat the process. Plus, I felt like there was this timer on our relationship and it steadily ticked down. If I wanted to enjoy my time with Oliver, I couldn’t waste precious minutes.
I met Ava at the café for lunch, and we tracked down Sloan before her evening class. We found her skipping happily to her history class. Ava practically tackled her on the sidewalk before she could disappear into the building. “You’ve been ignoring my texts all morning.”
Sloan wiggled her way out of Ava’s hold with a wry smile. “I’m not ignoring you.”
Ava put her hands on her hips. “What happened in that broom closet?”
“I told you last night.” Sloan couldn’t keep the gigantic smile off her face as she straightened her clothes. “I gave Preston my number and told him to call me.”
Ava and I exchanged disbelieving stares that we then turned on Sloan. She attempted to keep a straight face, but it lasted about as long as a Disney star’s abstinence vow. “Okay,” she admitted, “I may have left my number on his butt.”
Ava and I stopped walking. Sloan took a few more steps before she noticed we were missing and turned around. “What?”
Ava rubbed her head. “You left your number on his ass?”
“Yep.” Sloan beamed with pride as if she’d just won the Nobel Peace Prize. “I mean, it seemed like a perfectly good spot.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And cowboy was cool with that?”
She started giggling. “He didn’t complain.”
“That’s it,” Ava said, hopping between us, “Sloan has stolen your crown.”
“For today maybe,” I said, removing the container of cupcakes from my bag. I twirled them around in front of the girls. “Oliver showed up at Sugar Cube last night. He knows it’s me who has been leaving him the cupcakes, so now I can indulge my nerd anytime I want.”
Ava’s eyes widened. “Are you going to see him right now?”
“We have a study session scheduled to start in ten minutes.”
“But I have to go to class,” Sloan said with a disappointed whine. “Can’t you wait until later?”
“The boy needs his sugar fix,” I explained. “I told him I’d meet him at ten, and I’m in the mood for some poetry.”
Ava’s eyes glazed over and sparkled. “Poetry.”
Ava’s sexcapades in the infamous secluded corner of the library were legendary. I patted her on the shoulder. “Exactly. So, I’m going take my cupcakes, and I will see you ladies later.”
I trotted off in the direction of the library as Sloan’s goodbye rang out over the quad. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I sat silently working on my calculus homework, going over the problems I had already finished and checking for mistakes. Okay, who was I kidding? I was very impatiently waiting for Oliver to arrive. I wasn’t hiding it very well at all. I scribbled on my paper, and my knee bounced all over the place. Eloise plus Oliver, minus clothes, multiplied by poetry section, divided by cupcake frosting, equaled all out schmexathon.
Fifteen minutes later, I was in full panic mode. No Oliver. No skinny jeans. No nerdy little glasses staring back at me. I had officially screwed things up. I thought we had a moment last night.
I wanted to kick myself. What the hell had I been thinking? You didn’t try to defile a nerd in his sacred area. I had probably broken some unwritten nerd tribal law. No sexing on hallowed ground. Or maybe it was because I didn’t invite him over last night. He’d made the grand gesture of showing up at my work, and stayed there helping me, all for what? I didn’t even give him a hug goodnight.
There went that dream out the window. I guessed I just wasn’t meant to stare into the gleam of those abnormally thick prescription lenses. I suddenly felt oddly empty inside. My life really did revolve around nothing more than getting an education now. There was nothing more to fill it with and pretend the classes and studying didn’t exist. Seriously, who went to college just to get an education?
I could feel the sting of rejection welling up in my eyes. I supposed that’s what you got for being bold and confident. They just left. They left you all alone in the middle of the library looking like a fool. Now that I thought about it, that had been exactly what I had done to him. So it fit. The tears spilled over, and I jumped up and ran for the bathroom. I threw the door open and ran for the sink. I bent my head and tried to calm the nausea. I squinted my eyes to squeeze out the remaining tears. I wanted it gone. I wanted it all gone.
Ten minutes later, my face was dry, my eyes red, and I felt like got run over by the screw-you truck. I stumbled out of the bathroom toward my desk to gather up my things and go home. I would never go in a library ever again. I let out a long sigh and reached down to pick up my book.
My hand hit something hot. Something hot and a tiny bit gooey. I breathed in, and the smell consumed me. I knew that smell. I was a fan of that smell. My gaze shot down to my book to confirm what my nose had already told me. My hand sat on a gigantic plate of chocolate chip cookies.
Cookies. Glorious, hope-redeeming cookies.
Then I spotted a little blue folded paper sticking out from underneath the plate. I grabbed it, translating the chicken scratch scrawled upon it.
Made with appreciation for the cupcake queen.
P.S–I thought you were never going to get up and leave!
I choked back a chuckle as I read the last line. I bit my lip and picked up one of the cookies, biting off a chunk. They were delicious and I was an idiot.
“Elle?”
The whisper came from behind me and I let my head drop, soaking in the sound of my name in his rough voice. A cool hand gripped my hip, and then his body pressed up against mine. I instinctively leaned back against him. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” he whispered into my hair. “I thought I was being cute.”
I smiled, turning around and burying my face in his flannel shirt. “It was. I simply have a flair for the dramatic.”
He laughed into my hair. “How about next time I try to be cute, I give you fair warning?”
I looked up, taking in those magnified gorgeous eyes. “It would be greatly appreciated.”
“Warning.” His voice was deep and scratchy. “I’m going to kiss you.”
My heart jumped in my throat and I swore that my panties hit the ground.
His lips caught mine and my knees went weak. His tongue raked across my lips. “Mmm. You taste like cookies.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You poor, food-deprived boy. I really am going to have to cook you that five-course meal.”
His fingers played with the buttons on the star covered sweater I wore over my cotton candy colored sundress. “That sounds like a date.”
“Because it is. Tomorrow night at my apartment at six.”
His hands moved down to my hips. “Confession.” He moved in closer, whispering between us. “I kind of like it when you tell me what to do.”
It was funny how easily shy Elle faded away in Oliver’s presence. He made me comfortable. Too comfortable. I reached up and touched his glasses. “Do you like poetry?”
Little sparks of lust burst from my fingertips. His nose scrunched up. “Is this some kind of test?”
I grinned. “No. I’m simply curious.”
“Not really.” He studied me warily. “But you can try to change my mind if you like.”
I had to keep myself from purring the next sentence. “That is exactly what I was hoping you would say.”
He looked confused as I grabbed his hand. “Bring the cookies and the cup
cakes. You’re about to receive your first poetry lesson.”
I started walking backward, licking my lips at the thought. Finally.
He grabbed the goods and followed me. “Elle…should this be turning me on?”
I giggled and hooked my finger around one of the loops in his pants. I jerked him forward and placed a small lick on the edge of his ear. “You tell me.”
I turned around, in a hurry to get him where we were going. Rushed footsteps echoed behind me.
“Uhhh…so where is the poetry section, exactly?”
The poetry section. That glorious little land of seclusion where young wild at heart youngsters could go to fulfill their greatest desires. This little filly’s greatest desire was following her ever so eagerly toward that greatest of destinations. I practically skipped with delight, humming out my call to arms.
Top floor.
East Wing.
Left back corner.
Fourth row behind Custer’s Last Stand.
Paradise.
I held my hands out, showcasing it to Oliver.
“So, this is the poetry section?” He glanced around intently. He pulled a book off the shelf and opened it.
Only Oliver Edwards would look at a book in the flipping poetry section.
“Yes.” I took the cupcakes and cookies away from him. I set them up on the table then unwrapped one cupcake and whistled toward Mr. Distracted. His eyes locked on the cupcake, and I knew I officially had his attention. He quickly put the book back and joined me on the table. “Hungry?”
He nodded. I placed the cupcake to his mouth, and he bit off a chunk. I strategically let the cupcake linger, smearing icing across his lips. “Oops.” I grinned. “My bad.”
He chuckled and leaned toward me. Oliver knew exactly how to play. I very slowly and methodically licked his lips clean.
“Damn, Elle.”
“Shh.” I held the cupcake back up. He sighed and took another bite.
We continued this sugary foreplay until there was only one tiny bite left. I ran my finger through the icing, and Oliver immediately opened his mouth.
Confession Of A Nerdoholic Page 11